Jimmy Haslam's mission: 'Bring winning football back to Cleveland'

(This story was updated at 2:55 p.m.)
Jimmy Haslam III, the Cleveland Browns’ new owner pending approval of three-fourths of the NFL’s 32 owners, delivered at an introductory news conference on Friday a comment that all fans hope can come true.
“We have one mission, one mission only: to bring winning football back to Cleveland,” said Mr. Haslam, who in acquiring the Browns will need to divest his minority interest in the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Mr. Haslam said that when he made his investment in the Steelers — he referred to them as “that other team” — NFL officials indicated another team would be coming available. The league called in late June, informed him that team was the Browns, “and we were fired up,” said Mr. Haslam, CEO of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Pilot Corp., which operates highway travel centers.
Team president Mike Holmgren said he met Mr. Haslam on Thursday.
“It doesn’t take long to understand the passion the Haslam family has,” Mr. Holmgren said.
Mr. Haslam rarely refused to answer a question during the news conference, though he would not address the future of Mr. Holmgren, general manager Tom Heckert and others, saying Mr. Lerner still owned the team and such comments would be inappropriate. There has been much speculation about former Philadelphia Eagles president Joe Banner joining Mr. Haslam in Cleveland, and that move potentially spelling the end of the Holmgren era with the Browns.
Mr. Haslam did say he and his wife, Dee, would split time between Cleveland and Knoxville, and “we’ll take whatever time is necessary to become part of the community.” That includes Mr. Haslam sitting among and talking to fans at the team’s coming Family Night at Cleveland Browns Stadium, set for this Wednesday, Aug. 8.
“I understand that the spirit of the city rises and falls with the team,” he said.
Mr. Haslam will pay current owner Randy Lerner $700 million immediately for the team, then another $300 million at a later date; multiple news outlets have reported that second payment will come on the deal’s fourth anniversary.
Mr. Haslam said he and his family had been eyeing NFL ownership for many years and have strong ties to the game dating to his father, Jim Jr., playing at the University of Tennessee. He said he’ll apply lessons learned from his family’s successful tenure running Pilot.
“It’s a marketing world,” he said, noting that the team likely at some point will sell naming rights for Cleveland Browns Stadium. A hot topic among fans, Mr. Haslam would not commit to any changes to uniforms.
Mr. Lerner was not at Friday’s news conference, though he did say in a statement released by the team late Thursday afternoon that he feels “a deep debt of gratitude to the loyal and passionate fan base, as well as the people I’ve met and worked with over the years. It has been a privilege to be involved with the Cleveland Browns and my only hope is that the Haslam family has the best of luck and that the Browns are restored to their rightful place among NFL champions.”
Mr. Lerner said Thursday he spoke with his mother and sister, who also are part of the formal Lerner Family Trust that owns the Browns, and “we agreed that the proposal was strong, the buyers made sense and the time was right for us to move on.”